Painting Space Marine Legions – Alpha Legion

The model used for this tutorial was built in a previous tutorial – Mark V power armour: Part A | Part B.

Alpha Legion, unsurprisingly, have very little pre-heresy artwork. True to their nature, they are a very secretive Legion andseem to be camera shy. From the artwork we do have, they seem to be predominantly in mark IV and V power armour. Being the last legion to be established, it makes sense that they don’t have access to earlier marks of armour.

This is a simple step-by-step guide covering the process involved in painting a pre-Heresy Alpha Legion marine to a tabletop standard.

The base coat was Charadin Granite. I opted for a high pigment, dark colour to ensure any bits I missed could be passed off as shadow!

The first base colour is a mix of Regal Blue and purple ink.

Thanks to the ink, this ended up being very shiny. Something I dislike with a passion!

The next colour used the previous mix, adding a little white and Enchanted Blue. I also mixed in some Matt Medium to get rid of the shine.

Paint all the armour with this mix, leaving some of the previous colour in the model details and areas of shadow. Notice the lack of shine. I am happier with this.

Continuining with the blend of colour, add more Enchanted blue and water, then paint all the armour again, leaving the undersides and more hidden areas. The more water added to the mix, the better the blend should work.

I left the darker colour showing on the rear of the pads and feet.

Add some white to the mix and add thin streaks of the colour to the edges of armour, most prominantly on the shoulder pads, helmet crst and pads.

For the metal I made a 1:1 mix of Mithril Silver and Charadin Granite. This was painted solidly to all metallic areas.

Everyone has their preference for what to paint metal, particularly on the backback.

Once the metal dried, I made a wash using Badab Black, Leviathan Purple and some Flow Improver. This thin wash helps blend the areas of armour into a darker shadow where it meets the metals.

Apply the mix to the metallics liberally and all areas where the metals join the armour.Ã‚Â I also added it to areas thet could use more shadow, such as under the knee pads, helmet, under arms.

Keep adding layers of the wash once the previous has dried, until you are happy with the results.

This brings the armour and metals to near completion. In part 2 I will detail the model with Alpha Legion iconography, give the marine a weapon and look at weathing and the base.